vescia

Forms

vescia f (plural vescie)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vissia, the neuter plural of Late Latin vissium (“silent fart”), taken as a feminine singular.^[2][3][4][5] The Late Latin noun is recorded only in glosses, and it is formed from the verb vissiō (“to break wind silently”), which the glosses give as a synonym of Latin pēdō (“to break wind”).^[2][3][6][7] The glossed form stands for classical vīsiō, a word of expressive or imitative origin.^[2][3][1]

The same family gave French vesse (“silent fart”), with the verb French vesser, Romanian beș, Friulian vese, Piedmontese vesa and Venetian vesa.^[3][8][9][1] Wiktionary compares Spanish bejín (“puffball”).^[1] According to Nocentini, the Latin verb is also the source of visone (“mink”).^[3]

The fungus is named after the fart because a little foul-smelling air escapes when its cap is opened, or because its spores puff out silently when it is ripe.^[3][10][11] Many languages and dialects call this fungus the fart of a wolf or a fox, as in the French vesse-de-loup, Lombard pet de loff (“wolf's fart”) and Emilian lofa.^[2][3][8]

Körting reports that Caix derived the Italian word from a Germanic verb for breaking wind, and Zaccaria also counted it among the Germanic loans, but Körting himself preferred the Latin verb, as all the later dictionaries do.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the word from 1536, when Aretino uses it in his Dialoghi for a fart.^[2][4] Zingarelli has an earlier date for this sense, before 1449.^[10] The name of the fungus appears in 1563 in the phrase vescia di lupo in the writings of P. Mattioli, and the bare noun in this sense in 1619, in M. Buonarroti the Younger.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The fungus is the main sense of the word today, while the older sense, a silent fart, is regional, mostly Tuscan, and loffa is its synonym.^[4][6][5] Mattioli's list of edible fungi in his commentary on Dioscorides already includes vescie di Lupo, and Redi later counted the vesce among the fungi on which flies lay their eggs.^[14][15]

From the 17th century the word also meant idle talk about other people's affairs, gossip: Minucci (before 1688) has it, with vesciaia for a woman who repeats everything she hears, and by 1829 it could mean a tall story.^[9][16] This sense is now Tuscan, archaic or rare.^[6][7] The verb svesciare, to blab out a secret, belongs to the same figurative use.^[16][8]

Timeline

• 1536 – Aretino uses vescia for a fart.^[2][4]
• 1563 – P. Mattioli names the fungus vescia di lupo.^[2]
• 1619 – M. Buonarroti the Younger uses vescia for the fungus.^[2]
• Before 1688 – Minucci uses the word for gossip, and vesciaia for a gossiping woman.^[9]
• 1829 – The sense “idle tale, fib” is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mycology) puffball: the common name of the fungi of the genus Lycoperdon, with a roughly round, stalkless body that is white and edible when young and bursts when ripe, releasing its spores as a brown dust: Nel prato dietro casa sono spuntate due grosse vesce.^{[4][6][5][7][1]}
2. (regional, Tuscany) A silent fart, the same as loffa.^{[4][6][5][7][1]}
3. (regional, Tuscany, archaic or rare) Rash talk about other people's affairs, gossip.^{[4][6][5][7][1]}

Word family

• svesciare
• vesciaia
• vesciona

Related words

• loffa
• visone
• French vesse

Usage notes

Vescia di lupo is a common name of the puffball.^[4][7] DEI also records an old botanical vescia of separate origin, a form of veccia “vetch” (1771), compare Genoese véscia and French vesce.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4035
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 809
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
17. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4036